W Wrestling

Ragan competes on US World Cup team

Mar 04, 2013

Lady Tornado wrestling star Alli Ragan, became the first King University wrestler to represent USA on a Senior Level team this past weekend. Ragan competed in the 59kg weight class at the World Cup in Ulan Baator, Mongolia. The World Cup includes the top 8 countries in the World based on last year's World Championship results. This year these countries included China, Japan, Mongolia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Belarus, India, and USA.

The trip was full of great experiences including the opportunity for Ragan along with the other USA delegation, to visit the US embassy and home of US Ambassador Piper Campbell.

The competition format included two pools of four teams. Each country in their respective pools would wrestle each other, and the winner for Pool A and Pool B would wrestle for the Gold, runner ups for the Bronze, etc.

Team USA's pool included China, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. USA wrestled Kazakhsatan first round, and Ragan defeated her opponent Lyudmil Mironova (2-0, 2-0), while the team won 7-0. Next up was China, and Ragan fell to a very tough Li Hui (3-1, 5-0). Team USA lost the team match as well. Against Belarus, Team USA bounced back with another shutout victory 7-0, with Ragan contributing with a dec over Nadzeya Mikhalkova (1-0, 1-0).

USA finshed second in the pool and advanced to the bronze medal match against world power Japan. Ragan finished her weekend 3-1 as she defeated Japan's Kiwa Sakae (3-0, 2-0). USA fought hard but fell to Japan 4-3 to finish 4th at the World Cup.

"We are very proud of Alli and everything she has accomplished while here at King. She was our first Jr World team representative, our first Jr World medalist, and now our first World cup team member and represented USA and King in tremendous fashion," said head coach Jason Moorman. "Don't be surprised if we see one or two more first's from Alli"

Next up for Ragan and the rest of Lady Tornado wrestling team will be Universtiy Nationals held in Oklahoma City, OK on March30.